“Lawaya, if you can see her hand, take it.” She made gestures so Lawaya knew what she wanted her to do.
Grinnell watched in amazement as Lawaya took her hand and Mehanna pulled her out.
“Lawaya!”
“Oh, my stars, Grinnell.” She pressed her hands on different parts of her body to prove she was really out then turned to look at her prison. “Oh, thank you so much, Mehanna.”
Mehanna stared at the mirror, too. “I can’t believe that worked.”
“Remember, sometimes the simplest thing to do is the right thing.”
Lawaya went to their host and bowed. “I am Lawaya, Barou master and leader of my people. I am indebted to your training.”
“I am Tosci. At least that is my nickname, but anyone who knows me calls me by that name.”
“You are afraid someone will find you,” Lawaya stated. “Is Mehanna in danger?”
“She’s the center of it.”
Now, why couldn’t he have gotten that answer? He hadn’t asked the direct question Lawaya did because he didn’t want to upset Mehanna. Perhaps he should have. “What sort of danger?”
“This is going to be a long conversation, and I don’t know if it is something I should say in front of Mehanna.”
“Why not?” asked Mehanna.
“Because your mind is blocked. It was done on purpose. I would rather free your mind with your talent than scar you with information that will rip those memories open.”
“How long do you think that will take?” asked Mehanna.
“I don’t know. It depends on how strong the block is, and how strong you are.”
“Can we start now?”
“Of course.” She directed Mehanna to stand under the shade of a tree. “Now, this is going to be a little silly to you, but I want you to make your fruit. The one thing you retained. Make it over and over, as fast as you can.”
“You’re kidding.”
Tosci shook her head. “This should be mindless for you.”
Mehanna gave her an odd look but did as she asked.
Tosci led Grinnell and Lawaya away from Mehanna and spoke to them in soft tones. “Mehanna needs to remember on her own. That way, she can control the power that will surge through her once she breaks the block.”
“The block is stopping her memory and her power?” asked Lawaya.
“Yes. For most of us, our power is tied to our emotions. Mehanna is the same way. She never had anything to push her to breakthrough.”
“I don’t agree.” Grinnell thought about May’s journal. What he had learned so far was their minds had been wiped, so they’d had to figure out how to survive on their own. Their power was there, but neither one had tapped into it the way the person in her duromares had expected. “She had to learn to survive on her own. She is highly intelligent and created her own forcefield to keep herself safe from her environment. This power you’re talking about doesn’t hold a candle to her mind.”
“You care for her a lot, don’t you?” asked Tosci.
Grinnell didn’t answer. He hadn’t examined his feelings for Mehanna yet, and he didn’t want to do it in front of this woman.
“We both do,” said Lawaya. “I saw her security system as well and without any sort of training, she was able to create something very advanced.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. She is brilliant. When she knew how to use her talent, she could do things that one else could have at her age. Without that knowledge, she had to put her ability somewhere.”
“She did a good job,” commented Grinnell. What he was learning made him think. “The person who did this to her. Why? Did they hate her and her sister that much?”
“Oh, no. Quite the opposite. Both sisters have more power in one finger than most of us have in our entire body. He wants that power, but he couldn’t tell which one would be stronger. So he thought if he sent them away, the one with the most strength would be the one who came back home. His goal is to bond with the one who is the strongest and have a child. That child would be what he will control.”
“Then she can’t go home.”
“Grinnell, how do you plan on stopping her?” asked Lawaya. “You know how headstrong she is.”
“But now that she’s freed you from the mirror, she doesn’t need to go back to her planet.”
“She still wants to know why they sent her away.”
“Can’t we tell her?”
“Excuse me,” said Tosci. She walked over to where Mehanna was working. The pile of fruit was getting big. “Now make the pile vanish.”
“What?”
“You heard me. And don’t try to eat them all. You’ll never get it done, and it will make you quite ill.” She watched Mehanna think for a moment then stoop and pick up a handful. “Oh, you can’t throw them out of sight either.”
“What exactly do you want me to do? Just wave my hand and say begone?” Her jaw dropped when the fruits she had created vanished from sight. “Oh, my stars!”
“I told you that the simplest thing is sometimes the right thing to do.”
Mehanna nodded. She stared at the cleared ground. Waving her hand, she commanded the fandel to reappear. It took her a few microns, but she got the wording right, and all of it came back.
“Now continue to work with them, give them commands to sort, stack, whatever your imagination will come up with.” Tosci moved back to where Grinnell and Lawaya watched. “Where were we?”
“You were going to explain why we can’t tell her why that man sent them away?”
She nodded. “You might tell Mehanna, but I know she’s not going to believe you. If she does, she’ll want to confront him. Her pride is on the line. You are going to be in danger as well, Grinnell. He wanted her to remain chaste. When he finds out you two have been together, he will kill you to keep her at his side.”
“What about May? Is she in danger as well?” asked Lawaya.
“It all depends on who has the most power. As children, Mehanna was the most powerful, but May showed signs of equaling her. He wants the most powerful of the two, but if they turn out to be close in strength, he could marry one, then keep the other as a backup. If their power level is that close, it might not matter to him which one bears him a child as long as he gets that child to control.”
“I can’t see them bowing to anyone like that,” said Grinnell.
“He is very powerful. He knows some of the ancient arts of mind control. He could lock them inside their own minds, so they won’t fight him.” Tosci watched as Lawaya went to help Mehanna.
“Then it’s even more imperative to stop her from going to your homeworld.” Grinnell would restrain her if it would keep her safe. She might be really mad at him, but he didn’t care. Her safety was what was important.
“I know, but I don’t think stopping her will stop the inevitable. He will look for her when he finds out she has left the planet he put her on.”
“How dangerous is this man?”
Tosci looked at him. She waved her hand and watched as his eyes bulged. “You can’t breathe because I took that ability away from you. I can also cause you so much pain that it will make you curl into a small ball and cry out for relief. The man I’m talking about is ten times stronger than me. He can make you hear and see things that aren’t there, that no one else can see. He could trap you in your mind for the rest of your life.” She released him.
Grinnell fell to his knees the moment she released him, sucking sweet air into his lungs. He wanted to hurt her, but at the secur, he couldn’t do anything. Once he regained control of his breathing, he looked around. Didn’t Mehanna or Lawaya see his plight?
“Oh, I also blocked the others from seeing what I did to you. You needed to know what you’d be up against. He doesn’t care about your wants or needs. He doesn’t care about anything but what he wants. He’ll destroy you to get that.”
“So, you’re trying to scare me.” He stood up. “I don’t scare easily.”
“I didn’t think so, but how do you plan on battling someone who has abilities like ours?” She clasped her hands behind her back so he would know she wasn’t going to use her powers against him again.
“I don’t know, but I do know that people have been successful. You wouldn’t be hiding your planet if you didn’t fear anyone off-world. He might be mean and powerful, but he has to have some sort of weakness. I just need to find out what it is.”
“I will help you.”
“How?”
“Because I know him. He’s my brother.”